Recent surveys suggest that despite a growing number of e-mails being sent, users increasingly
prefer other types of communication. Analysts say one reason for this shift may be that the growth
of e-mail is causing information overload, and firms should therefore introduce new policies on e-mail
use or risk lower productivity.

Last month, a survey of 2,000 Internet users carried out by the Consumers' Association found that
the popularity of e-mail was waning. Only five percent of respondents said e-mail was their preferred
form of communication, compared with 14 percent in the same survey last year.

Also last month, a study by market
research company Vanson Bourne
found that U.K. employees spend as
much as 25 percent of their working
lives managing e-mail. Commissioned
by information management firm KVS,
the survey discovered that workers
spend up to two hours sending
between 30 and 70 e-mails each day.

One IT services manager contacted by
IT Week said that the proliferation of
e-mail could increase administration
costs and damage competitiveness.

He said another problem is that
projects and contracts are frequently
being conducted via multiple e-mails
over a long period. He pointed out that
this can be inefficient, and the only
documentation for products and contracts is often the e-mails exchanged by the parties involved.
He recommended that companies should connect series of e-mails together as linked lists, so that
agreements reached, and the e-mails sent, can be stored in chronological order.

He also advised that organizations should have formal written contracts in order to prevent
arguments between different parties, where one is unable to show a full history of e-mail
correspondence.

Other users were concerned that the absence of formality in business e-mails means that
communications often lack clarity, and so reduce levels of efficiency. Colin Williams, business
development manager at IT equipment supplier Action.com, suggested that poorly written e-mails
lead to "a degree of disdain for the writer".

Calendaring synchronization tools firm On Board Info has argued that companies are also in
danger of alienating their customers through excessive e-mail marketing. It suggests that
alternative approaches are required, such as permission-based marketing in which firms are able
to place adverts on users' PCs or PDA calendars.